(Note - I have only seen a demo version) This program takes the student through the process of photosynthesis, using pictures of plants and animations of molecules to explain the different steps in the process. The animations look like standard textbook pictures of the various proteins involved embedded in membranes or floating around in space, with little colored balls bouncing around between the proteins representing the atoms and electrons that are being manipulated by the proteins. Each step in photosynthesis has its own animation, and these are connected through a larger scale animation which shows the whole process on one screen. The demo version includes only the pictures, without any text, but the real version also has a sidebar with text explaining each step. You progress through the material using a VCR like control bar at the bottom of the screen which is quite easy to use, or you can skip around to different sections from the menus. The whole thing takes around 15 or 20 minutes to skim through, though to go through it thoroughly probably takes considerably longer.

The animations are crisp and nicely done, with graphics that are simple enough to be able to follow but spiffy enough to look professional. The user interface should be trivial for most students to learn. Assuming that the text accompanying the graphics gives good descriptions of what's going on (its missing in the demo), this program may make a nice companion to a textbook description of photosynthesis, or individual animations could be used in a classroom to visually demonstrate what's happening instead of just talking about it. If your students have trouble following the reactions in photosynthesis and you think that simple animations might help them, then this program should be useful for you.

Computer: Macintosh

Source: John M. Cheeseman or Matej Lexa, Dept of Plant Biology, Univ of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801.
Email m-lexa@uiuc.edu
Demo version and info available from http://www.life.uiuc.edu/cheeseman/JC.software.html

Cost: Low

Last update 22nd of January 1996